by M. D. Cooper
Juasa grimaced. “Sorry, Kat, been a lot going on.”
Katrina gave a curt nod.
The shuttle settled onto a pad halfway up the inner curve of the asteroid’s interior, and the pilot called back. “We’re locked down, you may disembark.”
Katrina nodded as she gestured for Malorie to precede them.
The Lady of Revenence Castle gracefully rose and walked from the shuttle; no easy feat, considering the towering heels and restricted movement she was being subjected to. Korin followed her, and then came Katrina and Juasa. Stu brought up the rear.
Katrina had looked over the public data available on the station’s net and knew that her face had not been circulated up here, so she didn’t bother holding her coat closed to hide her upgrades. When they stepped onto the pad, she wished she had.
They were met by the stationmaster, Lars Bedin. From several of the notes that Katrina had seen, he was a grouchy man who didn’t like change or anything that may even suggest an alteration to how he liked to run Rockhall.
Katrina passed Malorie a series of rapid instructions over the Link. She saw the woman’s back stiffen, but she didn’t respond.
Here goes nothing.
“My Lady Malorie,” Lars said by way of greeting, as Malorie stepped off the shuttle. “I had no idea you were coming.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware I needed to schedule things with you. Do you have time in your busy, busy day for me?” Malorie sneered at the man. “Lara is sending an inspection team to look over the Havermere, and I want to see it first.”
Lars nodded quickly, his brows knitted together. “Uhhhh, of course. It’s just unusual for you to do an inspection; Jace usually performs those.”
Malorie took a step toward Lars, her arms spread wide. “Do you see Jace? Is he in Midditerra? Did I miss him somewhere? I want to assess the ship’s worth before Lara’s team arrives.”
Lars reddened, but he nodded and walked off the pad. “Follow me, we’ll take a skiff over to the ship. It’s in very good shape, but there are a few repairs we’re making—mostly from the fighting in one of the bays and our breach team’s entry.”
The stationmaster led them off the landing pad and onto a catwalk that hugged the edge of the rock wall. Every hundred meters, doors led into the rock, but Lars didn’t take any of those. He stayed on the catwalk, moving toward a cluster of smaller shuttles and equipment that lay half a kilometer ahead.
Katrina asked.
Juasa chuckled.
Juasa caught Katrina’s eye and raised her brow.
Katrina sighed, saved from the conversation by their arrival at the skiff, as Lars had called it. The craft was little more than a floating platform with rails. Once everyone was aboard, he lifted off from the pad and steered them into the open space within the asteroid.
Artificial gravity still felt surreal to Katrina. That the skiff could use graviton emitters to propel itself across the open space, and then also use those same emitters to keep them standing on the platform, was amazing.
It certainly beat centripetal force pushing at your feet, or the artificial gravity that the Intrepid had generated with its particle accelerator’s mag fields. Those never felt quite right.
They approached the forward bay on the Havermere, which was opened wide; the same as it had been when Katrina had fought the crew in her attempt to save Juasa.
“Where’s the crew?” Katrina asked Lars.
The stationmaster cast her a dark look, but Malorie nodded her head and he answered.
“We have them in Rockhall’s brig. Some of them were dead from the fighting aboard, some got taken out by our boarding crew. Only forty-seven of them made it here alive.
“Any candidates?” Malorie asked.
Lars shrugged. “I’ve not looked over them myself, but I’d be surprised if there weren’t; there’s always a few. We’ll find a use for the rest.”
Like the fields, Katrina thought.
The skiff settled down on the forward bay’s deck, and Katrina followed Lars and Malorie off. Her gaze caught sight of the bloodstains and carbon scoring on the deck. They stood as a stark reminder of the battle she’d fought here.
“Crew beat the shit out of one another in here,” Lars commented. “We’ve patched the hull, but there are some other systems that took damage. The grav shield on the door is hosed, too. We’ll need to replace it.”
“Why’s that?” Juasa asked.
Lars looked back at Juasa, and then a look of recognition crossed his face. “I know you, I saw you in the roster. You were the repair Crew Chief aboard this ship.”
“Yeah, and I can’t imagine what would have happened to the door’s grav emitters that would require replacement.”
“What’s she doing here?” Lars asked, turning to Malorie.
Malorie sneered at the stationmaster. “I’m sorry, Lars, did something about our relationship become unclear to you? Do I need your permission to bring people into the Blackadder?”
Stu took a menacing step toward Lars, and the man backed up.
“Uh…no, I was just surprised, is all.”
Malorie shook her head and turned away from Lars, appearing disinterested in him. “Well shove your surprise up your ass and answer the question.”
“Well, I only know what the repair crews told me, but something about the way the power shut off burned out the emitters.”
Juasa snorted. “Right, sure. That’s repair scam one-oh-one. Even the shit emitters that KiStar sprang for wouldn’t take damage from that. Sounds like someone is skimming.”
Malorie turned her head slowly and took a step toward Lars. “You skimming, Lars? Taking a little bit to sell on the side? Using it to pad a deal?”
“Of course not!” Lars was indignant. “I know better than that. Blackadder takes from others, not ourselves.”
Malorie let out a sho
rt breath and shook her head. “Not sure I believe you, Lars.”
“I’ll find out,” Katrina said as she walked toward the man.
“Who the fuck are you?” Lars asked as he backpedaled, only to be caught in Stu’s grip.
“You’re not gonna like this, Lars,” Stu said with a wicked grin, “but given that you’re such a piece of shite on your best day, I’m not going to feel too much sympathy.”
Lars struggled mightily as Katrina approached, but couldn’t pull free from Stu’s grip. His head whipped back and forth, though it didn’t help as Katrina slammed her palm into his forehead, pushing it back into Stu and holding him in place.
She fed nano through the palm of her hand into his skin. Katrina was surprised at the quality of Lars’s internal bio and nanotech defenses. They were better than most others she’d encountered; they fought back and killed off her intruders.
“You want to do this the hard way?” Katrina asked, her eyes boring into the man’s. “So be it.”
She delivered a small electric shock through emitters in her hand, frying any nano in the surface of Lars’ skin. It wasn’t enough to damage any mods he would have, but it would throw them into a recovery cycle.
Her next batch of nano easily defeated his beleaguered defenses and penetrated his skull, finding his wireless Link connection and internal datastores.
The connection established, Katrina took her hand off Lars and stepped back as she perused the data he had stored in his augmented memories.
“Oh yeah, Lars here has been skimming alright. For years. Wait…what’s the Castigation?”
Sweat was pouring off Lars’ brow, and he shook his head vigorously. “I don’t know what that is! You’re just making this up! How…you can’t do this, it’s not possible!”
Malorie gave a rueful laugh. “You’re not kidding; it shouldn’t be, but it is. Looks like your days here are done, Lars.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Katrina said with a smile. “He’s hidden a warship in here. No corsair or corvette, either. It’s a cruiser.”
“A cruiser? In Rockhall?” Malorie asked, aghast. She stepped up to Lars and backhanded him. “You slimy piece of shit. I’m going to string you up for my crows. Alive.”
“Easy now, Malorie,” Katrina said. “Lars knows a lot of interesting things. The crows will have to wait for a bit.”
“Where are the repair crews, anyway?” Juasa asked.
“It’s third shift on Rockhall,” Korin replied.
Juasa frowned. “No rotating shifts? Lars, that’s a bigger sin than hiding a cruiser.”
“OK,” Katrina said. “The cruiser can wait. First we need to find Sam, and Ju needs to pick some things up.” She turned to Lars. “Where’s Sam?”
“The AI?” Lars asked. “He’s still aboard, but we had to cut him off, thing was crazy, we couldn’t lock it down.”
Katrina turned Korin and Juasa. “You two, go get what we need. Stu, Malorie, and I will take Lars to get Sam.”
Katrina drew both into a private conversation.
Katrina said with a curt nod.
“Stu, you can let go of Lars now,” Katrina said.
The guard complied, and Lars stumbled forward and then suddenly went rigid.
“OK…I know I talked big, but that creeps me the fuck out,” Stu said.
After infiltrating most of the Havermere’s systems on the trip through Bollam’s World, Katrina knew that Sam’s node lay in a datacomplex beneath the bridge a hundred meters away. Based on what Lars had said, they only disconnected the AI node, which meant that Sam was still in his cylinder.
She walked across the bay to the corridor beyond, heading toward the bow. Malorie and Stu followed with Lars, while Juasa and Korin split off to go aft.
On the way, they passed a pair of workers who scrambled out of the way upon seeing both Lars and Malorie. Two minutes later they reached the datacomplex, and Katrina shook her head at the disarray within.
“Your people are savages,” she muttered.
Cables hung from conduits, and control panels were smashed. In the center of the complex stood an Au-Ti pillar, which housed Sam’s node.
At least he’s well protected.
Lars was unable to respond to her statement, but she picked up memories of Sam trying to retake the ship, and the Blackadder prize crew reporting that they had to sever his control of nearly every system to keep the ship under control.
She also saw that the Adders had been unable to breach Sam’s pillar without risking his destruction. He was a valuable prize, and so he remained entombed within his ship.
“Sam,” Katrina said aloud, “I’m here to get you out of this prison. Open up.”
Sam’s dry tones emanated from the pillar without hesitation. “Nice to see you, Katrina; you seem to have managed this ordeal a bit better than I.”
Katrina pulled her coat aside to show her armor-skin. “I think I took more of beating than you.”
“Damn, that’s your skin now? What happened to you?”
“A hell of a lot,” Katrina laughed. “However, I’m in charge now—or I will be very shortly. I need your help to pull it off.”
“What about your friends here?” Sam asked.
Katrina shifted her gaze to the stationmaster. “Lars, stand on your head.”
Lars immediately bent over and tried to stand on his head. He failed and crashed to the ground, only to try once more.
“Stop,” Katrina said, and Lars complied.
“Cute trick. I take it you’ve pulled out all the stops.”
“And then some,” Katrina replied. “This is a cage fight. No holds barred.”
The top of the pillar began to twist, unscrewing and raising up, to reveal an SAI’s tetrahedron-shaped cube.
“What do you need me for?” Sam asked.
“Have you met the station’s AI?” Katrina asked.
“Haven’t had the pleasure yet. They’ve got me locked out.”
Katrina turned to Stu. “See if you can find a portable case around here.”
“Cabinet on your right,” Sam said, and Stu walked to the bulkhead and opened a cabinet. “Look at that; first try, but still the last place you look.”
“You’re a real comedian,” Malorie muttered.
Katrina ignored the woman. “Does it have wireless?”
Stu nodded. “Looks like it. Batts are charged too.”
“You’re going mobile, Sam. I haven’t brushed up against the station AI yet, but I do have its override codes, courtesy of Lars’ brain here. If it’s subverted, offer it the choice—if you’re able to liberate it, that is. Otherwise shut it down, and we’ll swap you in.”
“I’m in your debt, Katrina. With what Troy gave me, I’ll get the job done.”
Stu opened up the mobile AI case and approached the pillar.
“OK,” Sam said. “I’m ready. Yank me.”
The pillar disconnected from Sam’s node, and Katrina reached in and carefully pulled Sam’s brain from his body. The action reminded her of Troy, and she hoped he was safe—wherever he was.
Katrina carefully set Sam’s node into the case, and Stu closed it.
“I’ll take it,” Katrina said. “I want your hands free in case anything comes up.”
Stu nodded and passed the case to Katrina. She tucked it under her arm, determined to keep the AI safe.
al net.
Katrina passed him the command tokens she’d stripped from Lars’ mind.
Sam said privately to Katrina.
Katrina replied.
“Let’s get back to the bay,” Katrina said to the group, and Malorie walked out first, followed by Stu. Katrina sent Lars ahead, and took up the rear.
Juasa snorted.
Katrina considered her options.
Juasa laughed.
The workers they had passed on the way to retrieve Sam’s node were gone, something Katrina was glad for. They would have recognized the AI case and asked questions.
Or spread rumors.
As they reached the entrance to the bay, Juasa came into view carrying a case and a small tool chest. Korin followed, pushing a large chest that Katrina assumed must be the portable fab unit.
“Mission accomplished,” Juasa said with a smile. “When this is over, I want to fix the Havermere back up. I don’t trust these fools.”
Katrina placed a hand on Juasa’s shoulder as they turned into the bay. “Ju, you can have this entire station if you want it. Lars won’t be running it anymore.”